Monthly Archives: June 2002

On the other hand, and I am afraid there is another hand, the Arafatistan terror state/terror gangs need to be defeated and Arafatistan needs to be denazified. It is striking to me that of all the many intelligent commentators writing about the president’s speech yesterday, only the incomparable Daniel Pipes noted the problems at the heart of President Bush’s speech: “U.S. President George W. Bush has been adamant since Sept. »

Rocket Man is on to something regarding President Bush’s speech yesterday. As I hear the reservations about it expressed by “the Europeans,” by the media punditocracy, and by the Palestinian terror gang, I realize that the speech had a thrilling Reaganite audacity to it, an audacity not unlike President Reagan’s Berlin speech. If President Bush can keep America’s conduct consistent with the principles articulated in the speech, over the incredible »

The Arab press seems to share the view that with Bush’s speech yesterday, the Administration has come down squarely on the Israeli side. Debka File is quoting a Syrian newspaper decrying the “worst speech in the history of US-Arab relations,” and quotes an Egyptian commentator saying “The Arab world won’t sleep tonight.” No links, however. »

The Trunk and I have different views of President Bush’s speech last night. Mine is optimistic; I read the speech as abandoning the pretense (or maybe reality) of neutrality between Israel and the Palestinians; requiring the demise of Arafat and the rest of the PA terrorists; and giving the Israelis a green light to do whatever is necessary until such time as the Palestinians get their act together by dumping »

In structuring my account of Irving’s book around the Oscar Wilde trial I have not exactly exhibited the skills of a born story-teller. I have destroyed any possible suspense about the outcome of Irving’s case. But Evans makes his investigation of Irving’s work fascinating, introducing it with a summary of representative reviews of Irving’s books by professional historians including such distinguished authorities as Gordon Craig (in the pages of the »

While the Rocket is giving his memory a work-out recalling the Ford administration’s Whip Inflation Now campaign, we should not forget that President Ford’s speech announcing the program did include helpful advice to average Americans struggling with the effects of his own (and Nixon’s) bad economic policy: be sure to eat all the food on your plate. Thank you, Mr. President! And thanks also for commissioning that wonderful Whip Inflation »

OK, while we’re on the subject, here is my favorite example of vindication in one’s own lifetime. Robert Conquest wrote the definitive history of Stalinism, titled The Great Terror. Based in part on the then-underground accounts of anti-Communist Russians, Conquest estimated that Stalin had killed about 20 million people. This calculation was almost universally deried by academic historians–Conquest is a poet, not a university historian. Liberals at that time viewed »

Milton Friedman, like Alfred Dreyfus, lived long enough to be vindicated, and at least he wasn’t sent to Devil’s Island. Nowadays everyone agrees that Friedman was right all along–just like Dreyfus was innocent. But if you want to get invited to a dinner party in Georgetown, don’t ever mention the fact out loud. (If the Friedman/Dreyfus connection is obscure, go back and read my earlier post about the parallel between »

These last posts about the 1970′s are stimulating a walk down memory lane–which, when we’re talking about the 70′s, is not for the faint of heart. One thing that stands out, with hindsight, about the Nixon and Ford administrations is the sheer incoherence of liberal Republicanism. Does anybody remember Gerald Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now” campaign? I’d love to have one of those “WIN” buttons; there must still be some around. »

Say, are you all as excited about the 30th Anniversary of Watergate as I am? Hoo boy. It’s been fun watching the Washington Post trying to explain the historical significance of Watergate to a new generation. I mean, forget about the fall of Communism; the fall of Nixon is something to really remember fondly. Of course, I have to admit I have a little nostalgia for Watergate myself. I’m nostalgic »

Way to go, Trunk. Arafat will never get what he deserves–that wouldn’t be possible, in this life–but at least he is finally being made irrelevant as a political figure. And I would bet that George Bush is one person who hasn’t forgotten about Noel and Moore, or about Leon Klinghoffer, or Arafat’s other crimes against Americans and others. Bush is such a simple-minded guy–he just can’t help disapproving of murder. »

The Rocket’s reference to the National Security Agency reminds me…The Rocket kindly noted last Sunday that the Star Tribune published a piece I wrote about the United States Department of State and Yasser Arafat. I noted the involvement of Yasser Arafat in the 1973 assassination of Cleo Noel, Jr., the former United States Ambassador to Sudan, and George Curtis Moore, his charge d’affaires, both former State Department employees. Given Arafat’s »

Another example of a war-related song being barred from a July 4th program. No wonder our enemies can’t figure us out: our elites are too sensitive to listen to songs that mention war at patriotic concerts, while at the same time our soldiers pitilessly rain down death and destruction on the enemy, with the enthusiastic support of virtually all of our people. We’re an odd country. By the way, the »